


Stay Here Untainted: an Andreth and Aegnor playlist

by 2Nienna2



Series: Tolkien Fanmixes [6]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Fanmix, Folk Music, Impermanence, Playlist, annotated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26208256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2Nienna2/pseuds/2Nienna2
Summary: A fanmix for the love of Aegnor and Andreth.
Relationships: Aegnor | Ambaráto/Andreth | Saelind
Series: Tolkien Fanmixes [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950328
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4
Collections: Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang 2020





	Stay Here Untainted: an Andreth and Aegnor playlist

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kuroimyuutsu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuroimyuutsu/gifts).



> A TRSB treat for Dolias | Mellar1l, inspired by [this gorgeous art!](https://www.deviantart.com/mellaril/art/Unfinished-Memory-852667885%E2%80%9D%20rel=)
> 
> Below is a link to the famix, which on Youtube, as well as a tracklist, some lyrics, and annotations. The annotations don't necessarily represent every way I think these songs could relate to the characters, they are rather my attempt at telling a continuous story.
> 
> Your art is absolutely beautiful, Mellar1l! It inspired me to read the Athrabeth and think about these characters more. I hope you enjoy this treat!

```[Listen Here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkeBq4GBQ0kNLAe_xpHo8Fp22TZSvFoeI)```

**(Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For? by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds**

So I've sat and I've watched an ice-age thaw  
Are you the one that I’ve been waiting for? …  
Outside my window the world has gone to war  
Are you the one that I've been waiting for?

Aegnor meets Andreth and she feels so magnetically right. In her presence he finds healing and joy. In her presence, he is finally able to leave the Ice behind. So what if it won’t last forever? He knows he will be forever changed, and they can bring each other comfort right now, even as “outside their window,” tensions are brewing.

**Halcyon by the Paper Kites**

You're free  
A love is coming home to me  
The sea

Adjective: halcyon  
denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.  
noun: halcyon  
1\. a tropical Asian and African kingfisher with brightly colored plumage.  
2\. a mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm. 

Aegnor and Andreth enjoy their love during the peaceful, idyllic days spent by the shores of the Aeluin. In this moment, all is well.

**Daylight and the Sun by Antony and the Johnsons**

Daylight in my heart  
Daylight in the trees  
Daylight kisses everything  
She can see

“There is something transcendent about this love,” Aegnor thinks. “Daylight floods the mountains and the lake and the trees, but it’s not harsh like it once was. Instead it fills me with verve and awe as we kiss.”

**Give Me A Smile by Sibylle Baier**

Give me your smile  
And stay and weave me your part of tenderness  
Give me a little smile while I lie by your side

Andreth and Aegnor bask in simple joys together. Andreth knows how to communicate to Aegnor without words.

**Forever for Now by LP**

Stay while the melody's sung  
Break like a wave on the run  
I do be sure I can't say anymore  
I just know that it won't last forever

Aegnor and Andreth speak with each other tenderly. The world seems both vivid and cumbersome.

**For All We Know by Nat King Cole**

For all we know we may never meet again  
Before you go make this moment sweet again  
We won't say good night; until the last minute  
I'll hold out my hand and my heart will be in it

The sundering that has long been staved off finally occurs. War is officially declared and Aegnor cannot marry; he must leave. There is so much uncertainty, and Andreth feels the heavy weight of her mortality. All they can do is make the most of these last few days.

**Moth by Anne Lister**

Oh the light that it cast out was gentle  
And I'd been far too long in the cold  
And all of the dark seemed so lonely  
And all of your welcome seemed gold

As the spell of the joyful times wears off, Andreth is filled with sorrow and bitterness and anger. How could Aegnor have left her? She feels angry at Aegnor, but also at the world for the circumstances it has led her to, and, perhaps most of all, angry at herself. She feels so small, so insignificant in Aegnor’s life. She even feels insignificant in her own life. She carries a bitterness towards his immortality that she will carry throughout her life.

**Flowers from Hadestown, sung by Eva Noblezada and written by Anaïs Mitchel**

Dreams are sweet until they're not  
Men are kind until they aren't  
Flowers bloom until they rot and fall apart  
Is anybody listening?

Andreth is still very bitter. At this moment, she thinks that maybe Aegnor saw her as merely a flower that was destined to rot, which he didn't care about enough to stick around until 'it' rotted. She also feels like she led herself into this mess, and like there's no one with whom she can really talk about it. In the second half of the song Aegnor also remembers the beautiful places were they met and addresses her.

**Nothing Without You by Vienna Teng**

It's the crowded room that's never heard  
No one here can say a word of my native tongue  
I can't be among them any more  
I fold myself away before it burns me numb

Even though leaving Andreth was partially his choice, Aegnor feels lost without her. He tries to hide it and that only makes it worse. Quite literally no one speaks in his native tongue because it was banned, which makes expression harder, and also no one can speak his native tongue in the sense that he feels they don’t understand him. Aegnor just wants to crawl away and not have to deal with other people.

**Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd**

How I wish, how I wish you were here  
We're just two lost souls  
Swimming in a fish bowl  
Year after year

Andreth’s anger has mellowed, but she feels lonely and stuck, and struck with such longing for what might have been. It seems every day some other horrible thing has happened, and while she grew up learning to deal with this, now that she has experienced being with someone who understands her, it’s hard to go back to facing the world alone.

**Wise Woman by Caroline Herring**

Because I went up to the mountain  
And I came back a wise woman...  
But my love, if you don't meet the dawn  
I promise you, I'll carry on  
Singing Precious Memories as I plant along the rows

Yet more time passes and, as humans do, Andreth moves on with her life. She visits the mountains where she and Aegnor fell in love and, while she still feels sorrow and bitterness towards Aegnor, it is tempered by the wisdom she has gained. Andreth devotes herself to learning lore from Adanel, and also finds in her a close friend. Slowly but surely, Andreth finds her own joy. 

**The Guests by Leonard Cohen**

And no one knows where the night is going  
And no one knows why the wine is flowing  
Oh, love I need you, I need you, I need you,  
I need you, oh  
I need you now

Andreth has a philosophical conversation with Finrod, much of which is about the nature of Men, whom the elves call “the Guests,” aka the Athrabeth. Andreth is not sure she agrees with this choice of epithet, and she strongly disagrees with many things Finrod says. However, both agree that they are stumbling in the dark, with no real knowledge of their final fate. Old longings awaken in Andreth, as does a new friendship.


End file.
